Party hats and other forms of novel headgear have long been known in the art and are synonymous with revelry and a fixture at many festive gatherings. Of numerous types of festive headgear two examples are particularly well known, these being the conical cap, the chapaeu cliche of childrens' birthday parties, held tightly on top of the wearer's head by a taut string or elastic band passed under the chin and the straw boater, typically seen at political conventions emblazoned with slogans and candidates names about the hat band thereof; truly a party hat. These hats, however, have some major drawbacks. Firstly, they are not adjustable to fit various head sizes. Secondly, they are not readily reduced to a compact size to facilitate easy storage, shipping and/or packaging for sale. Thirdly, the conical hat and boater are far too common place to suit the wants and needs of some particularly festive individuals.
Other inventors have addressed the issues in headgear of size adjustability, reduction to a compact size and festive appearance with various results. One development disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,157 comprises a visor and an adjustable head band with a decorative, fanciful bird face represented on a panel attached to the visor portion. The headband of this hat comprises first and second arms extending rearwardly from the visor. The arms are adapted to be fastened together by means of a hook on the first arm passing through an eyelet at the end of the second arm with the hook at the end of the first arm being adapted to selectively engage one of a series of corresponding slits in an edge of the second arm, thereby resulting in a headband, the circumference of which is adjustable. The decorative panel is attached to the visor by means of tabs on the panel which pass through corresponding slits in the visor and projecting spurs on the panel which engage a notch on the front edge of the visor.
Another novelty head dress is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,679,711 comprising a size-adjustable headband and a crown strap on which a upwardly projecting spindle is attached. The spindle features a rotatable hub mounting a plurality of radially extending feathers. The headband is made adjustable by means of a key formed in one end of the headband strip which lockably fits into one of a series of T-shaped keyholes at the other end of the strip.
A balloon carrying hat is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,801 which comprises a stretchable hemispherical cap worn over the head having a polar opening therein through which an inflated balloon is attached.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 49,678 discloses an elongate unfolded striplike structure on which circus scenes and related representations are imprinted. The top edge thereof is cut to generally conform to the shape of the printed scenes. The longitudinal ends of the strip are joined together in an undisclosed fashion to form a decorated hat or hat band.
A broad brim foldable hat is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,727. The crown, crown wall, and brim sections of the hat are of rigid material and are interconnected into a hat shape and made foldable by passing yarn through perforations in the edges of the panels.
Also known in the art but unrelated to hats and apparel is a folding pocket calendar. The calendar comprises a plurality of panels on which the various months of the year are represented foldably connected together in a strip. A series of panels is specially adapted to cover the folded-up panels and hold them in their folded configuration by a tab inserted into a corresponding slot in one of the panels.